Understanding the Signs of Christ's Return

Right now, as I'm preaching to you, it is raining here in Atlanta. I mentioned the rain not to brag on our attendance, but to make a point: meteorologists use technology to predict weather patterns with accuracy, allowing us to prepare. Similarly, Jesus gave us prophecy not out of curiosity, but so we would be ready and watch carefully.

The Lord Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem in the last week of his earthly life. He cleansed the temple, prophesied about its destruction, and taught about the signs of the end times. His followers asked him, "Lord, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming?" When we hear prophecy, the first thing we want to know is: when? The Lord begins to answer their question in Matthew 24:32-35.

The Parable of the Fig Tree

Learn a very powerful word: its lesson. "From the fig tree, learn a lesson. As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out leaves, you know that the summer is near."

Commentators often try to make this parable more complex than it really is. They say the fig tree represents the nation of Israel and force things into the text that are not there. But this parable is not about the nation of Israel—it is about timing.

Imagine you have a fig tree in your yard. In fall and winter, it is bare with no leaves and no figs. But in spring, it puts out giant green leaves. If you didn't have a calendar and couldn't tell time, you would know from the cycle of that tree that when the leaves get big and green, summer is the next season. The leaves are an indicator that something is about to change.

Here is an important principle: you can stare at a fig tree from a distance and see big leaves, but you cannot see the fruit unless you get up close. This applies to people too. Just because someone has big leaves—a big platform, a big Instagram following—doesn't mean they have fruit.

Everybody with big leaves don't have fruit. Big platform with no character is a diseased tree. Big ministry with no character is a diseased tree. Big ministry with no Christ exaltation is a diseased tree. You have to get up on that tree and examine the fruit under the leaves.

When You See All These Things

"So also when you see all these things, you know that he is near. Even at the very gates."

The word "know" is crucial. You will not be confused. You will not be caught off guard. You will know the summer is near when you see the leaves.

What things is the Lord talking about? He's talking about all the things he prophesied in verses 4 through 31. When you see the increase of wars and rumors of wars, the increase of earthquakes, pestilence, sickness, and disease—when you see the increase of the persecution of the saints, when you see the increase of false prophets running through the earth.

In the last days, we will see an increase of false prophets with false messages. People are rising up with the title "prophet" and many just believe everything they say. Yet many never hold them against the scriptures. They never check the word of God behind them. Then these "prophets" prophesy and their words fall to the floor. Deuteronomy has taught us: if God did not send that person, their words will fall.

In the last days we will see an increase of apostasy—people leaving Christianity saying "I tried Jesus and it didn't work." We will see the abomination of desolation. We will see global proclamation of the gospel. And we will see the return of Christ himself.

When you start to see all these things in succession, you know that the end is near.

The Storm Clouds Are Already Here

Although in context these things will unfold in full force during the tribulation period, hear me right now: the storm clouds of these things are already in our society. They're already happening right now across the globe. And Christians are not paying attention.

As I'm talking to you, we're seeing the manifestations of the early signs of these things:

• We're seeing the increase of the persecution of the saints
• We're seeing an increase of false prophets and false teachings
• We're seeing an increase of lawlessness and dishonor towards God
• We're seeing an increase of all the things he prophesied
• We're seeing an increase of artificial intelligence
• We're seeing an increase in Islam

I believe it will be Islam that will suppress Christianity and persecute the saints in the end times. Many saints will be beheaded during the tribulation, and there is one faith that has pleasure in doing that. According to the Quran, this is their doctrine.

We see an increase in end-times alliances between nations like Russia and China, which are hidden in biblical prophecy. These are two nations that scripture tells us will come against Israel in the end. They are already having talks and coming together.

Right now, as we're playing church and running in and out of rooms all around the world, we see the storm clouds on the horizon of all these things happening right now.

That's why I'm serious when I say: Now is the time to get right with the Lord.

Now Is the Hour

Now is the time to start reading the scriptures for yourself. Now is the time to have a prayer life. Now is the hour to be right with Christ. Now is the hour to stop playing around with your walk.

Now is the hour to take inventory of your friends. Now is the hour to start cutting people off who are antichrist, who are leading you astray, who want nothing to do with Jesus. Now is the time to take inventory of your boyfriend or girlfriend. If they want nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to say, "You know what? It doesn't make any sense for you and I to be dating."

Now is the time to build your marriage. Now is the hour to disciple your children. Now is the hour to enjoy the community of the saints because a day is coming when we won't have this anymore.

Now is the hour to lean into biblical teaching and biblical preaching. Now is the hour to scrub your podcast from listening to 85 voices every single week. Now is the hour to guard your soul from all of the garbage you see on social media. Now is the hour to stop reading heretical books. Now is the hour to stop reading heretical devotionals.

Now is the hour for believers to be serious about the kingdom. Serious about the great commission. Serious about your intimacy with Christ. Serious about your relationships. Serious about your calling, your anointing, your gifting, your assignment.

Put Your Whole Life on the Altar

Now is the hour to put your whole life on the altar.

This ain't no sermon. This is a plea, my brothers and sisters. Now is the hour to put your marriage on the altar. Now is the hour to put your children on the altar. Now is the time to stop having ambitions that have nothing to do with God's calling on your life.

Now is the hour to push off all those idols off the table of your heart. Now is the hour to stop worshiping things more than you worship Christ. Now is the hour to stop making excuses about your past and what you can't do.

Now is the hour to say, "Christ, here is all of me on the altar, submitted and surrendered for your service and your purpose." Now is the hour to say, "Lord, I don't want anything that you don't want for me."

Listen, now is the hour to say, "Lord, I want to die empty. I want to arrive in glory having done everything you've called me to do. I want to write every book I'm supposed to write. I want to say everything I'm supposed to say. I want to go every place I'm supposed to go. I want to preach what I'm supposed to preach."

Now is the hour to say, "Lord, empty me out completely because we don't have all this time left." I'm trying to die empty. I don't want to arrive in heaven with anything in me that was supposed to be poured out in the earth.

We want to die empty.

Now is the time to stop making excuses. Do it afraid. Step into it by faith. Do everything God has called you to do. Now is the hour to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.

Now is the hour to start saying, "Lord, wherever I'm deceived, reveal it to me." If there's pride in there and I don't know, reveal it to me. If I'm headed down the wrong path, reveal it to me. If I'm dating the wrong person, reveal it to me. Now is the hour for the Lord to wash my soul of everything that does not belong in there.

Now is the hour to break up if you're dating someone who has nothing to do with the Lord. Now is the hour to have a tough conversation: "You know what? We've been doing this for five years and you want nothing to do with the Lord. I'm sorry. I'm not going to hell with you. Now is the hour to be single all over again."

Now is the hour to stop loving sin and stop making excuses for ratchet lives full of lewdness and unholiness. Now is the hour to honor Christ.

How about a Matthew 24 resolution instead of a New Year's resolution? Lord, after today, I'm putting my whole life on the altar.

Some of you need to come and just lay your head on the altar. Why do you worship people with fire and don't build your own? You idolize people with platforms, but you don't want to go through process. You love stages, but you don't love altars. You want to preach and you don't have a prayer life.

Why is everybody busy trying to build everything? Everybody wants to be a chief. Everybody wants to be a king. Nobody wants to be a servant.

Now is the hour to deconstruct all that mess and foolishness. You try to put Christianity on top of just going to take craziness and attach God to it. No. Now is the hour to stop that foolishness.

Now is the hour to care about your witness and what people say about you on your job and how you govern yourself on social media. We can't keep looking at your hips and you give me a scripture tomorrow. We know you're insecure and we know you're looking for love. Maybe you should go into your prayer closet and find it above you instead of trying to find it online.

I'm sick and tired of people running around saying, "I'm a woman of God" and "I'm a man of God," but we're not disciples of the Lord. Where is your cross? Where is your sacrifice? Where is your seriousness? How are we followers with no cross?

Now is the hour to pick up your cross and run your race and finish your assignment.

Why? Because time is running out.

This Generation Shall Not Pass Away

The Lord says in verse 34: "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place."

The Lord said, "This generation will not pass away until everything I have spoken has come to pass." This is why you have to listen carefully. I have read commentaries that say he was speaking only to that generation in the present time, and some believe all these things happened between his crucifixion and AD 70 at the destruction of Jerusalem.

My friends, this is asinine. Why? Because he said all these things have to happen before one generation passes away. What was the last thing he prophesied? His own return. Since the Lord has not come back yet, we know that these things could not have happened in that generation.

So the Lord was not just talking to the people in front of him. The word "you" in Greek is plural. He was speaking prophetically through time because he knew all these men would die and one of them would die at an old age. He knew about the church age that was coming that they did not see.

So when he says "you," which is plural, he's speaking prophetically through time to a future generation that will be alive during the tribulation period. I believe it is my personal opinion that we are probably entering into that generation that will see all these signs and the return of the Lord. If not us, our children.

I think that our children may be the generation that sees the rapture, the tribulation, and the return of the Lord. I think all these things are just around the corner. We can feel the wind of them blowing in society.

Because he said all these things will happen in one generation, that means the generation that sees the first signs will be the generation that sees the return of the Son. That means all these things will happen in a short period of time.

Heaven and Earth Will Pass Away

The Lord finishes his thought with verse 35. Look at what he says: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

You hear what he said? Heaven above and the earth you live in—it will pass away. But his words, his prophetic words, this scripture—it will never pass away. The word of God is more sure than the foundations of heaven and earth.

The scripture teaches us in Revelation that everything you see right now is going to be burned up. Christ will recreate a new heaven and he will recreate a new earth. Therefore, he said, "These things that we're running after—all these things will pass away. But there is nothing you can put your trust in except what I have said."

Why? Because the scripture says, "The word cannot be broken. And God cannot lie." So everything Christ has prophesied will come to pass exactly as he said. His word could be trusted above the Quran. It could be trusted above every religious text. This word can be trusted. He cannot lie.

So if he said he's a provider, he can be trusted. If he said he'll never leave you nor forsake you, he can be trusted. If he said no weapon formed against you shall prosper, he can be trusted. If he said he's with you on mountain tops and in valleys, he can be trusted. If he says he hears the redeemed when they pray, he can be trusted. If he says that you are in him and he is in you, he can be trusted.

His promises can be trusted. His words of comfort could be trusted. His words of prophecy could be trusted. His words of warning better be trusted. For you get one shot to get this right. And that is now. When we die, there is no second chance.

What Type of People Should We Be?

I leave you with the question of Peter: Since all these things are coming and since all these things we're running after are going to be dissolved, what type of people should we be now?

Holy. Godly. Righteous people. We should be people running after God with our whole heart. Running after the scriptures with our whole heart. Running after him in prayer with our whole heart. We should be people ringing out our hearts.

Since all these things are coming, we should get up tomorrow morning and walk into our job like missionaries. We should be praying for the lost. We should be praying for our loved ones who are far away from Christ. We should be serious about the spread of the gospel. Some of our money should be invested in the spread of the gospel.

We should be fulfilling the calling and the assignments that he has placed upon our life. Since all these things are coming, we should take our lives and our walk seriously right now.

The Lord gave us all this prophecy not for us to be curious. He gave us all this prophecy like the rain—to be watches and ready. My only question for you is: If the rapture happened next week, will you be ready? Are you ready right now? Do you know Christ now? Are you serving him for real now?

He's given us a forecast. So if you get caught in the rain, it's your fault. It's not his fault.

The only question for you to answer when you leave here today and get to your little restaurant, when you look across at your spouse and your friends and say, "Dang, yo, are we ready? Are we doing this thing for real? Is it just church or is it a lifestyle? Is it a sermon or am I reading the Bible for myself?"

That's my prayer for you: that you would take serious your walk, your anointing, your gifting, your assignment, the time that you have left.